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Digital Images for Plant Phenology Documentation

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Abstract

Plant phenology is a key indicator of changing climatic conditions and, thus, automated documentation of phenology using cameras has recently been advocated. The present study, therefore, aimed at identifying phenological stages in Sapium sebiferum using digital images of a full calendar year. Red, Green and Blue channel information from these images was analyzed. Across the three channels (i.e. R, G, and B) the DN values ranged from a minimum of 71.42 in blue channel (BDN) to 156.16 in green channel (GDN). In general, the RDN, GDN, and BDN values increased till 66 DOY after which there was a steep decline in DN values of R, G, and B channels till 224 DOY. After this, a slight increase in the DN values of all the three channels was observed. The value of Red Fraction ranged between 0.297348281 and 0.352612071. The minimum value for the same was on 3 DOY while the maximum was on 135 DOY. On the other hand, the value of Green Fraction ranged between 0.330045461 and 0.39841947. The values of Green Excess Index (2G-RBi) ranged between −0.009863618 and 0.19525841. It reported minimum value on 42 DOY and the maximum on 139 DOY. Green excess index were found to be reliable indicator of greening up in the species. Red Faction was a good indicator of senescence. Photographs provide an ideal tool for documenting phenology of a species and can provide inputs for large scale satellite image analyses.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Director CSIR-IHBT Palampur for the facilities and support. Faculty and members of High Altitude Biology Division are acknowledged for their comments and valuable help. Funding for the work was provided through project BSC 0109 and PSC 0112 of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. This is IHBT Communication No 3833.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. High Altitude Biology Division, CSIR-Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology, Palampur, HP, 176061, India

    Sanjay Kr. Uniyal, Vikrant Jaryan & Rakesh D. Singh

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  1. Sanjay Kr. Uniyal
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  2. Vikrant Jaryan
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  3. Rakesh D. Singh
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Correspondence to Sanjay Kr. Uniyal.

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Uniyal, S.K., Jaryan, V. & Singh, R.D. Digital Images for Plant Phenology Documentation. Natl. Acad. Sci. Lett. 40, 135–139 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40009-016-0517-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40009-016-0517-2

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